PRESIDENT OBAMA at Sandy Hook Interfaith Prayer Vigil in Newtown, Conn., last night (18 mins.): “We’re not doing enough. And we will have to change. Since I’ve been President, this is the fourth time we have come together to comfort a grieving community torn apart by a mass shooting. ... And in between, there have been an endless series of deadly shootings across the country, almost daily reports of victims, many of them children, in small towns and big cities all across America ... We can’t tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change. We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and that is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world, or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. But that can’t be an excuse for inaction.

“Surely, we can do better than this. If there is even one step we can take to save another child, or another parent, or another town, from the grief that has visited Tucson, and Aurora, and Oak Creek, and Newtown, and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that -- then surely we have an obligation to try. In the coming weeks, I will use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens -- from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators -- in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this. Because what choice do we have? We can’t accept events like this as routine. Are we really prepared to say that we’re powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard?”

JOE SCARBOROUGH has Nixon-to-China moment on “Morning Joe”: “From this day forward, NOTHING can ever be the same again. We've said this before after Columbine, after Arizona, after Aurora, after SO many other numbing hours of murder and massacre. But let this be our true landmark: Let Newtown be the hour after which, in the words of the New Testament [Revelation 21:5], we did all we could do to make all things new. Politicians can no longer be ALLOWED to defend the status quo. They MUST instead be forced to defend our children. Parents can no longer take ‘no’ for an answer from Washington when the topic turns to protecting our children. ... Though entrenched special interests are going to try to muddy the cause in the coming days, the cause of this sickening mass shooting -- like the others -- is no longer a mystery to common-sense Americans. And blessedly, there are MORE common-sense Americans than there are special interests, even if it doesn't always seem that way

“I say ‘Good luck!’ to the gun lobbyist. Good luck to the Hollywood lawyer who tries to blunt the righteous anger of millions of parents, by hiding behind twisted readings of OUR Bill of Rights. ... I am a conservative Republican who received the NRA's highest ratings over four terms in Congress. I saw this debate over guns as a powerful symbolic struggle between individual rights and government control. ... In the years after Waco and Ruby Ridge, the symbolism of that debate seemed even more powerful to me. But the symbols of that ideological struggle, they've been shattered by ... violent, mind-numbing video games and gruesome Hollywood movies that dangerously desensitize those who struggle with mental health challenges. And then add in military-styled weapons and high-capacity MAGAZINES to that equation, and tragedy can never be too far behind. ... I've always taken a libertarian's approach to Hollywood's First Amendment rights and gun collectors' Second Amendment rights. ...

“But last Friday, a chilling thought crossed my mind as I saw the Times Square ticker over ABC spit out news of yet another tragic shooting ... How could I know that within seconds of reading that scrolling headline that the shooter would be an isolated, middle-class white male who spent his days on his computer playing violent video games? How did I know that it was far more likely that he had a mental condition than a rational motive? And how did I know the end of the story before the real reporting even began? I knew the ending of this story because we've all seen it too often. I knew that day that the ideologies of my past career were no longer relevant to the future that I want, that I demand for my children. ... It's time for Washington to stop trying to win endless wars overseas while we're LOSING the war at home. ... We must give no more ground. ... I choose life, and I choose change. ... And for the sake of our children, we must do what's right. And for the sake of this great nation that we love, let's pray to God that we do.”

BIPARTISAN CALLS FOR D.C. ACTION:

--“Democrats Vow Action,” by Bloomberg’s Lorraine Woellert and Kathleen Hunter: “Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said on ABC's ‘This Week’ she'll intensify her push to renew an expired assault-weapons ban ... Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, ... an Illinois Democrat who heads the Judiciary Committee's panel on the constitution and civil rights, said he will hold hearings on the constitutional question of gun rights early next year. ... ‘I think we could be at a tipping point,’ Senator Charles Schumer of New York, the Senate's third-ranking Democrat, said on CBS's ‘Face the Nation’ ... [O]n ‘Fox News Sunday,’ retiring Senator Joe Lieberman ... called for a national commission to examine gun laws, the nation's mental health system and violence in video games and other entertainment.”

--“Pro-gun Sen. Joe Manchin: Time to act,” by Kevin Robillard: “West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — who has an ‘A’ rating from the NRA and is a lifetime member of the pro-gun rights group — said Monday that it was time to ‘move beyond rhetoric’ on gun control. ‘I just came with my family from deer hunting,’ Manchin said on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe.’ ‘I’ve never had more than three shells in a clip. Sometimes you don’t get more than one shot anyway. It’s common sense. It’s time to move beyond rhetoric. We need to sit down and have a common sense discussion and move in a reasonable way.’” Manchin, who declined to say what specific restrictions he would support, said the NRA should have a role in the debate over legislative changes to gun law. ... Manchin famously used a rifle to shoot a piece of climate control legislation in a television ad. ...

“All 31 Senators with an ‘A’ rating from the NRA declined to appear on Sunday’s ‘Meet The Press’ to discuss gun control, according to host David Gregory.”

** A message from the American Hospital Association: Will Congress Jeopardize Patients' Access to Care? As it works to reduce the deficit, Congress should not cut funding to hospitals and hurt patient care. Oppose Hospital Cuts. Protect Patient Care. Visit www.aha.org/preparedtocare to learn more. **

OVERHEARD in the East Wing, from a little girl in a pink fuzzy jacket, during a White House holiday-decorations tour Saturday evening: "Where's Santa?"

OUT TODAY from Random House – POLITICO post-election e-book, “The End of the Line,” by Glenn Thrush and Jonathan Martin: “Obama had stormed out of a debate prep session just days before the disaster in Denver. Before he flopped, Obama’s team pressured their distracted boss to take Mitt Romney more seriously and bear down during debate practice — and he shot back, accusing them of sending him into battle with a mushy, ill-defined plan of attack. ‘This is all great,’ he told the team during one of 11 prep sessions he attended, most of them at Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington. ‘But what am I actually supposed to do when I get onto the stage? You are telling me what not to do. I feel like I’m getting a lot of contradictory advice, guys.’ ...

“By the time [Romney] and his top adviser, Stuart Stevens, realized a message of ‘Obama isn’t working’ was insufficient, it was after Labor Day and too late. ... The former Massachusetts governor kept open a line of communication with his former strategist, Mike Murphy, and brought former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman into his confidence. But the ever-loyal Romney stuck with Stevens until the end and never seriously doubted his pollster Neil Newhouse, who produced a steady stream of fatally over-optimistic poll data rooted in a skewed model of the electorate that vastly underestimated Obama’s support. ...

“[A] man with unshakeable confidence was deeply shaken by his own failure in Denver — far more than anyone on the outside could have known at the time. Intuitively, Obama and his top advisers quietly waged a campaign-within-a-campaign to buck up their bummed-out candidate and, even more quietly, to purge distractions and negativity from his midst. Gone, for a time, was Obama’s beloved iPad, which delivered a stream of sour commentary. ... David Plouffe ... privately feared one strategy he believed could sink the president: a focused effort to define a ‘Romney Way’ to kick-start the economy that not only criticized Obama but blasted the trickle-down approach of George W. Bush. ...

“[Mike] Murphy, a consultant feared by Obama’s brain trust in Chicago, had a secret meeting with Romney at the candidate’s Lake Winnipesaukee house in August and emailed him advice later in the fall but never became a threat to his nemesis Stevens. Gillespie took on a more powerful role in the fall, but he ultimately butted heads with Stevens. Seeing Romney’s polling difficulties with Hispanics and women, Gillespie pushed to make a more aggressive case with ads in Spanish in Florida and on the abortion issue in Virginia. ...

“White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer, who emerged as Plouffe’s right-hand man, was quietly dispatched to Chicago for at least one day a week to keep tabs on the messaging operation and keep intra-office squabbling to a minimum ... In August, Obama’s debate prep team drafted a detailed strategy memo for the initial faceoff that called for Obama to take the fight to Romney ... ‘He’s going to come out and do that Massachusetts moderate routine,’ senior strategist David Axelrod told a colleague ... ‘And we’ve got to call bullshit on him.’ But after Romney’s ‘47 percent’ debacle, advisers urged Obama to pull back a bit, to seem more presidential and less caustic. Obama and his team flew west on Sept. 30, still not quite sure of how to handle Romney. ... As [Obama] prepped outside of Las Vegas before the first debate, the small circle of aides who saw the raw video of one of the practice sessions could see how bad things were: The optics were chillingly Nixon 1960. Obama was grim and hardly making eye contact with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, his debate partner. He particularly hated the post-prep session where the team sat together and reviewed the video. During one, as the team was critiquing his performance, Obama got up, said, ‘Enough!’ and walked out. ...

“[T]he seeds of [Romney’s] demise were evident in some of the emails his pollster, Neil Newhouse, sent to senior staffers. On Oct. 30, Newhouse shared some of the ‘verbatims’ ... from the previous night’s surveys. ‘The negatives range from voters complaining about the fact that Mitt never campaigns in [African-American] areas, not sure who the real [Mitt Romney] is, his views on women’s rights … the 47 percent … his cut-throat capitalist views (Wisconsin voter), Medicare vouchers.’” More excerptshttp://politi.co/12jW7af

PUNDIT PREP – L.A. Times col. 1, “Party fissures aren’t only in GOP: As the fiscal deadlinenears, Democrats areencountering somedivisions in their ownranks over possiblechanges to Medicare,” by Christi Parsons, Michael A. Memoli and Kathleen Hennessey: “White House officials insist nothing is off the table, tacitly acknowledging that the president is weighing potential changes to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security ... The debate is the president's first major postelection leadership challenge. It could determine not only whether a deal passes, but whether Obama can repair four years of ragged relations with his allies in Congress. ... Some Democrats ... have signaled an openness to changes, such as charging higher Medicare premiums or curtailing health benefits for wealthier elderly people. The White House sees the president's challenge as a matter of capitalizing on his reelection victory, convincing not only Republicans but also wary Democrats that Obama has a mandate to negotiate a deal that raises taxes on the wealthy and also cuts spending on entitlements.

“Obama has held several campaign-style events to build public support, and White House officials acknowledge they are partially aimed at providing cover for Democrats. ... Americans want to see that ‘finally, Washington is working,’ said one advisor ... A deal that includes changes to entitlement programs would be a credible piece of evidence. That doesn't mean that Obama has to go as far as raising the eligibility age for Medicare. He was open to discussing it a year and a half ago, but then he was in a more vulnerable political position. Fresh off his reelection and Democratic gains in Congress, Obama might shift back to a less dramatic approach, such as charging wealthier beneficiaries more for healthcare services.... Obama has been conspicuous about consulting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Pelosi before and after meeting with Boehner.” http://lat.ms/R1O3aD

WEEKEND WEDDING: Zach Hunter, American Action Network’s deputy press secretary, married Mallory Hanville, the NRCC’s political coordinator, in Atlanta. The couple, 26 and 23, danced the night away with family and close friends at Flint Hill, an old Southern mansion. Among the attendees was Hunter's former boss, Rep. Phil Gingrey.

** A message from the American Hospital Association: Will Congress Jeopardize Patients' Access to Care? America's hospitals are always open, serving our communities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Even as hospitals face new challenges to provide high-quality care to everyone who needs it, Congress is debating additional cuts to hospital funding which would cost jobs and hurt access to care. Because hospitals care for everyone who comes to the ER, we provide billions in uncompensated care, including $39.3 billion in 2010. During the last decade, uncompensated care rose 82%. Now Congress could further cut hospital funding to reduce the deficit. These cuts will have serious implications for our patients, and could jeopardize access to quality health care. Oppose Hospital Cuts. Protect Patient Care.

Yes Mr. President, We have got to change...or else.Let's start with YOU ! All children should be safe from harm and feel secure.Let's begin in the first home a child evr knows.It's mother's womb.While it is safely nestled in it's home, one day a bad man comes to the door.He is weaponized ! Either with a pair of tongs, Saline Solution and even sometimes a knife.Depending on the method of murder he is going to use, it could be a pair of tongs to pull the child apoart limb by limb,or by burning it with Saline solution, or by pulling it's body out of it's home and stabbing it in the back of the neck! And YOU SIR....are culpable !YOU are FUNDING these attacks and YOU are demanding that OTHERS pay for these attacks ! And if others find there are children that survive their attempted murders that you help very much to facilitate, then YOU deny them medical help!How DARE you accuse this young man of being a Monster , when YOU are helping to murder millions and millions of these tiny little children! THOU ART THE MAN !....STOP WITH THE HYPOCRISY!

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Send to a friendTIPPING POINT: Left and right push for gun control -- OBAMA: 'We can do better' -- JOE SCARBOROUGH: 'The ideologies of my past career [are] no longer relevant' -- George P. Bush in D.C.